Page 8 of Accidental Baby Daddy

She shrugged. “I followed a roughneck here, because of the oil rig.”

I nodded slowly. My ex-boyfriend, Oliver, had been a roughneck in high school and college. His father was an oilmagnate, and Oliver had been on his way to following in his footsteps. “I’ve known a few of them myself.”

“They’re hot,” she said with a wink, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I had hardly eaten all day and the beer was already going to my head. I was a little bummed when I finished it.

People started to come in, and I looked down at my wedding dress, feeling embarrassed.

Brenda eyed me and then passed me a pair of kitchen scissors.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and went to the bathroom to hack up my ten-thousand-dollar dress. By the time I was finished, it barely resembled its original form—no sleeves, the hem hanging just below my knees.

I took a deep breath and headed back out to the bar. Brenda whistled at me and winked, and I couldn’t help but smile.

That was one of the great things about Wagontown. There were good people here.

I was about to ask Brenda if I could owe her five bucks for another beer when a man walked up behind me.

“Put whatever she wants on my tab,” he said. Grateful, I turned and looked up at him.

My heart stopped in my chest before booming back to life again and beating way too hard. I felt dizzy, as if I’d been taking shots all night instead of nursing one light beer.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be some fantasy I’d made up because I was stressed about pulling a runaway bride. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to push the fantasy away. But when I opened them seconds later, he was still standing there. Oliver Stanhope, the only man I had ever loved, stood there, looking at Brenda.

Did he recognize me? Or was he just being nice to the crazy lady in the cut up wedding dress?

“Oliver,” I whispered, and he looked down at me, frowning, before realization dawned in his soulful brown eyes.

“Shit,” he whispered back. “Lex.”

He looked good, great, even. Chiseled jaw with a hint of dark stubble across it. Those big brown eyes I used to get lost in were still the same. He was broader across the chest and shoulders than the last time I’d seen him, but of course, it had been years.

He smelled good, too, like sandalwood and soap. God, I still wanted him. I swallowed hard and looked up at him.

“God, it’s been a long time,” I babbled, not sure what else to say. I felt like my knees would buckle if I tried to stand up.

Oliver slid onto the bar stool next to me. “What are you doing back in town?” He eyed my outfit with one dark brow lifted in inquiry.

I reflected that this was one of the things I had always liked about him. He didn’t panic or make a big to-do about anything. Even running into his ex in what was left of her wedding gown with sticks in her hair.

I gestured down to my wedding dress. “Running,” I admitted ruefully, one corner of my mouth lifted a little. Suddenly, I felt tears prickling in my eyes, and I looked away from him. What was wrong with me?

He chuckled. “You were always good at that.”

I frowned, but Oliver didn’t seem angry. Maybe he’d forgiven me after all this time. I’d forgiven him, not that this was the time or the place to say so.

“No hard feelings?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“I guess there’s no hard feelings,” he admitted. “Are youback or just passing through?” He gave my outfit another significant glance.

He was looking at me curiously, and I wondered if he was being honest about not having hard feelings or if he was just saving face.

The last time we’d seen each other we’d both been screaming and highly emotional. It seemed strange now that everything appeared to be okay.

I guess people could change. I guess time changed things too. Time had made me foolish, apparently, and time had made him wise. I sighed.

I hailed Brenda for another beer and Oliver ordered himself one too. I took a long sip before speaking again.

“Yeah. Wanted to look up my parents.”

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